Freedom
by Sable Supernova
Summary: When Millicent meets Imani, she knows her life has changed for the better. But when a dangerous truth outs itself, Millicent makes her choice. Will Imani see it through? Oneshot. Rated for trigger warning: self harm mentioned and terminal illness.


Written for:

Ultimate Chocolate Frog Challenge: Camilla Sanguina challenge: Write an AU in which any canon female witch is or becomes a vampire. (BONUS 5 Knuts!)  
School of Prompts: ½ story at The Quidditch Pitch  
Gringotts Prompt Bank: Imani Madden (Female OC name), Millicent Bulstrode, "If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest (wo)man alive." - Samuel Goldwyn, "You hurt yourself on the outside to try and kill the monster on the inside." – Unknown, No word 'said'.  
September Event: Millicent Bulstrode

Words: 850

* * *

 **Freedom**

It started at the Quidditch Pitch. Millicent was certain she'd never had a friend before once she met Imani Madden. The blonde girl with vivid green eyes made everyone else pale in comparison.

It wasn't long before it was more than friendship.

They would lie together, fingers intertwined between them, on the fresh grass staring up at the clouds. In school, Millicent often felt burly and large, boorish and clumsy. Masculine. With Imani, she felt more like a woman than she'd ever felt.

Millicent met her when she was in her fifth year, and Imani in her seventh. It felt cruel to them that they would be granted so little time together. It was October when they became friends, January when they first kissed, and March when Imani said she had a secret. Millicent had been waiting for Imani to trust her with it for weeks, and finally, the tick tock of time compelled her to action.

"Imani, you said you had a secret," she raised, leaving the request to hang silently in the air above them, like the cloud over the east stands that threatened rain.

"I can't tell you," Imani patiently responded, hesitation heavy in her tone.

"Why not? Don't you trust me?"

"It's not that. It's dangerous. I'm dangerous," Imani told her, avoiding her eye.

"Imani… time's running out. I need to know," Millicent implored.

There was silent between them, settling between them like a thousand miles of ocean, making them feel impossibly far away from each other.

"I'm a vampire."

After the shock wore off, Millicent read up about Vampires, separating the truth from myth. She found herself intensely attracted to the melancholy beauty of the condition. She knew what life was like when it was lived alone; forever by Imani's side didn't feel like a bad thing at all.

Midnight at the Quidditch Pitch always felt like another world. The only sounds were nature; the air was chill without the warmth of the sun; the world they knew slept soundly through their escape.

"Why are you still with me?" Imani asked, drawing circles with her thumb on the palm of Millicent's hand.

"Why would I be anywhere else?"

"Because I could kill you," Imani responded.

"You won't." Millicent shrugged. She trusted Imani all the more for the knowledge they now shared, not in spite of it.

"What makes you so sure?" Imani was curious.

"You haven't killed me yet. And anyway," Millicent continued, "If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest woman alive." She grinned at Imani.

"What are you saying?" Imani didn't miss the double meaning. Her eyebrows knitted together over her green orbs, turning them dark.

"What I said."

"Don't wish to be like me, Millie. It's more hardship than beauty," Imani warned.

They didn't mention it again. It was too much of a difficult issue for them; it interrupted their happiness.

That was until Millicent saw the marks on Imani's wrists, deep welts healed over into raised scars.

"What are these?" she asked, darkness clouding her sight.

"Nothing. Scratches." Imani answered too quickly.

"No they aren't."

"They're none of your business."

"They're all of my business! Imani, please. Talk to me," Millicent begged.

Imani said nothing.

"You hurt yourself on the outside to try and kill the monster on the inside. Is that it?" she asked.

"It doesn't work." Imani's voice was weak.

"Imani, I love you. Exactly as you are," Millicent admitted. It was the first time she'd said it in so many words.

Millicent was sixteen when they told her. Eight months had seemed like a long time when it encompassed the whole length of time she'd been in a relationship with Imani. It wasn't that long when it was all she had left. The summer had just begun, a happy time normally, but not this year. This year, Millicent was acutely aware it would be her last summer.

It was a week before she worked up the courage to tell Imani. She cried, and Millicent wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. Either way, it made it harder.

But Imani had the answer.

"Give me a chance at life," Millicent asked.

"I can't, Millie. I can only bring you death," Imani answered, sorrowful.

"Death with a semblance of life still seems better than my fate."

"Not yet," Imani conceded.

Millicent lay in her bed in the hospital, feeling as though she'd never known anything that wasn't pain. Pain and lethargy. She wanted so desperately to sleep, but she was scared. She knew she might not wake up.

When Imani visited her, she'd lost hope. She was just glad of the company. When she felt sharp pangs in her wrist, and looked down to see her girlfriend drinking, her heart leapt. This was it. Her freedom had come.

She woke up feeling light. Lighter than air. There was no pain, not anymore. Just a deep hunger she knew she would have to satiate. She looked at Imani's nervous and tense face and smiled. She'd known from the start this girl would be good for her.


End file.
